Church Engagement - Be Globally Relevant

Does your church want to respond to current global issues and crises that are affecting children? From Guatemala to Ghana and Bangladesh to Bolivia, there are countless, timely ways your church can provide love, healing, nourishment and restoration to children who are desperate for hope.

The State Department's 2012 "Trafficking in Persons" report has been released, which estimates 21-27 million people are forced into servitude around the world.

Washington, DC — The State Department's 2012 "Trafficking in Persons" report has been released, which estimates 21-27 million people are forced into servitude around the world.

"Victims of modern slavery are women and men, girls and boys, and their stories remind us of what kind of inhumane treatment we are still capable of as human beings," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Types of slavery include sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor and the use of child soldiers. Child traffickers often gain poor families' trust through familial, ethnic or religious connections, and falsely offer to raise and educate children in other towns.

While Compassion is not a rescue or relief organization, Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program provides children with a solid line of defense against poverty and oppression. Sponsored children are known, loved and protected by staff members working at their local Compassion church project. Their ongoing support, counsel and prayer gives sponsored children a sense of stability and security in otherwise uncertain circumstances.

When Pastor Dan Chun learned Compassion had a program to help children in poverty attend college and earn a degree, he wanted his church to get involved. Yet the $300 per month commitment felt daunting.

"I have enjoyed sponsoring two children over the last 15 years. I do not have daughters; but I feel that in Heaven,
I will have a special relationship with these young women that I helped to sponsor. I am blessed to be part of what
God is doing through Compassion."